Airbnb to require smoke, carbon monoxide detectors

Airbnb founders Nathan Blecharczyk, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky in a meeting room at their San Francisco headquarters based on Gebbia and Chesky’s original apartment on Rausch Street in San Francisco, where the company was born. (Courtesy Airbnb)

Airbnb is adding new requirements to ensure the safety of travelers who use it to book stays in others’ homes.

The online hospitality service will mandate that all its hosts confirm they have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in place by year end, according to a blog post by Phil Cardenas, Airbnb head of trust and safety.

Since reports show that some 60 percent of homes in North America lack the devices, Airbnb will give free smoke/carbon monoxide detectors to U.S. hosts who request them, he said. It will also distribute free first aid kits to the first 10,000 eligible U.S. hosts who ask for one. In addition, it will send hosts an “emergency safety card” where they can list information about local emergency services and “trusted friends who live nearby and may be able to help in the event of an emergency.”

“At Airbnb, we take safety seriously,” Cardenas wrote. “We want our hosts’ homes to be among the safest in any neighborhood.”

The initiative follows on the heels of a test program Airbnb is running in the Bay Area to offer reduced-cost cleaning services to some hosts.